The front gate of Seoi Elementary School in southern Seoul is filled with condolence messages and flowers on July 20, 2023, as mourners queue up to pay respects to a female teacher who died on July 18 by an apparent suicide. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Following the recent suicide of an elementary school teacher in Seoul, which has been largely attributed to excessive complaints from students’ parents, an internet checklist has been circulating to identify so-called ‘monster parents.’
This checklist is being shared on online communities and social media, containing 11 questions aimed at determining whether a parent is taking inappropriate actions against school teachers.
Some of the points on the checklist concerning teachers are: ‘A teacher who doesn’t share his/her personal contact information is assumed to have no love for students’ or ‘Calling teachers late at night is considered acceptable when urgent.’
Regarding teachers, the checklist includes statements like ‘Teachers should be young and pretty’, ‘Teachers who haven’t had children cannot understand how parents feel’, ‘Young female teachers struggle with education because students aren’t afraid of them’, and ‘Students dislike old teachers because they are strict.’
In relation to students, the checklist includes points such as ‘It requires patience to deal with my child because he/she is stubborn’, ‘My child is sensitive, but he/she understands when spoken to kindly’, ‘While hitting is bad, it’s seen as better than being hit’, and ‘My child may have done something wrong, but there must be a reason behind it.’
The list also features the 11 most common quotes used by monster parents, like “My kids don’t do that at home” and “They were alright last year,” which subtly imply blame directed at teachers.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
